When Roberto Walker Clemente trotted out to right field on April 17, 1955, he was making his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
No one knew for sure what his future held, but perhaps no one could have predicted he would lose his life just 17 years later.
Now 60 years after that rookie debut, nearly every Buccos fan knows his story and how he tragically perished in a plane crash on December 31, 1972 while trying to aid earthquake victims. But few fans may know what took place in that rookie debut six decades ago.